The 2008

SunTrust Indy Challenge The Indy Richmond 300 (formally known as the ''SunTrust Indy Challenge'') is an IndyCar Series race held at Richmond Raceway near Richmond, Virginia from 2001 to 2009,. From 2001–2007, the race was scheduled for 250 laps (187.5 miles); from 200 ...

was the ninth round of the

2008 IndyCar Series season The 2008 IndyCar Series was the 13th season of the IndyCar Series. It was the 97th recognized season of top-level American Championship car racing, American open wheel racing. It began on March 29, 2008, and ended on September 7 after 17 point-s ...

and took place on June 28, 2008 at the

Richmond International Raceway Richmond Raceway (RR) is a , ''D''-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in unincorporated Henrico County. It currently hosts one NASCAR Cup Series race weekend and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. It formerly h ...

, in

Henrico County, Virginia Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is a County (United States), county located in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population wa ...

. At the start,

Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Christopher Hunter-Reay (born December 17, 1980) is an American professional racing driver best known as a winner of both the Indianapolis 500 (2014) and the IndyCar Series championship in 2012. He currently competes part-time in the IndyC ...

spun just before the start/finish line, which brought the yellow out immediately. The first 7 laps were run under yellow with

Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed "TK", is a Brazilian racing driver who is the team principal of Arrow McLaren. He is best known for racing in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) from 1998 to 2002, an ...

leading from the pole position. On lap 8, the green came out, but only one lap was completed before the next yellow.

Will Power William Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He won the 2018 Indianapolis 500 and has won the IndyCar Championship twice, in ...

was driving below

Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have w ...

, lost control, and crashed in turn 4. The race finally got going on lap 21, when the green came out once again. On lap 31,

A. J. Foyt IV Anthony Joseph Foyt IV (born May 25, 1984) is an American professional football scout and former racing driver. He is a scouting assistant for the Indianapolis Colts, and drove in the IndyCar Series and briefly the NASCAR Busch Series. He is th ...

touched wheels with

John Andretti John Andrew Andretti (March 12, 1963January 30, 2020) was an American professional race car driver. He won individual races in CART, IMSA GTP, Rolex Sports Car Series, and NASCAR during his career. A member of the Andretti racing family, he was ...

, and Foyt crashed in the wall in turn 2. His Vision Racing teammate Ed Carpenter ran over debris from the crash, and both cars were sidelined. During the caution, a handful of cars pitted, including

Danica Patrick Danica Sue Patrick (; born March 25, 1982) is an American former professional racing driver and model. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel car racing—her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win ...

and rookie

Jaime Camara Jaime Camara (born November 5, 1980, in Goiânia) is a Brazilian race car driver, who in 2008 competed in the IndyCar Series for Conquest Racing. Motorsports career Indy Racing League Camara previously competed in the 2005 and 2006 seasons of t ...

, but most of the leaders stayed on the track. Kanaan continued to lead when debris brought out the caution again on lap 67. All of the leaders pitted, while Camara and Patrick stayed out and took the first two spots. On the restart, Camara led the field, but

Buddy Rice Albert Lee "Buddy" Rice (born January 31, 1976) is an American former race car driver. He is best known for winning the 2004 Indianapolis 500 while driving for Rahal Letterman Racing, and the 2009 24 Hours of Daytona for Brumos Racing. Career E ...

spun and tagged the wall on the frontstretch. The field checked up, and

Darren Manning Darren Manning (born 30 April 1975) is a British motor racing driver who has raced in the IRL IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Career history Early career Manning was born in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire ...

Ryan Briscoe Ryan John Briscoe (born 24 September 1981) is an Australian–American professional racing driver from Sydney who has predominantly raced open-wheel and sports cars in Europe and America. In IndyCar he collected 8 wins and 28 podiums, finishin ...

and

Bruno Junqueira Bruno Junqueira (born November 4, 1976) is a Brazilian race car driver who most recently competed in the IRL IndyCar Series. He is a former Formula 3000 champion and three-time runner-up in the Champ Car World Series. Racing career Early ca ...

were involved in a separate crash. Camara led at the next restart, while Kanaan, Patrick, and Castroneves went 3-wide for second. Behind them in turn 2, John Andretti and

Vítor Meira Vítor Meira (born March 27, 1977) is a Brazilian former auto racing driver. He formerly competed in the IndyCar Series and has twice finished second in the Indianapolis 500. IndyCar Series 2002 After participating in an open test for Panthe ...

tangled, and crashed hard in the wall. Patrick returned to the pits, and topped off with fuel. Camara continued to lead, and impressively held off Kanaan on the restart. On lap 116,

Marco Andretti Marco Michael Andretti (born March 13, 1987) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 98 Dallara- Chevrolet for Andretti Global. He formerly drove in the IndyCar Series fo ...

caught up to Camara, and took the lead for the first time.

Graham Rahal Graham Robert Rahal ( ; born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver and small business owner. He currently races in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winner of ...

crashed on lap 133 in turn 4. Many of the leaders pitted, but Marco Andretti stayed out to lead. Another restart saw only three green laps, as yet another crash occurred, this time involving Hunter-Reay and

Mario Moraes Mario Ermirio de Moraes Filho (born December 20, 1988, in São Paulo)http://www.cbssports.com/autoracing/drivers/driverpage/1604847/mario-moraes is a Brazilian professional race car driver. Moraes started his career in minor youth motorsports. ...

. Around this time, some teams anticipated that rain might end the race early. Marco Andretti gave up the lead on lap 204 when he made his final pit stop. That put Kanaan back into the lead. On lap 217, after a brilliant run in the top five, Camara lost control and crashed on the frontstretch. The yellow trapped Andretti a lap down, and kept Kanaan in the lead after the final sequence of pits stops. The rain held off, and Kanaan led the rest of the way for his first victory of the season.

Result

References

IndyCar SeriesArchived
2009-06-01) {{s-end

SunTrust Indy Challenge